The definition of what constitutes patronage and what makes one a patron, such as the person who funded and commissioned a work, has in recent years broadened to include owners, recipients, and subjects of books, art, architecture, and other objects. With these extended parameters of patronage, my project explores the manuscripts, monuments, and other memorabilia associated with the funerary patronage of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) , her daughters, Marie de Champagne (1145-1198) and Matilda of Saxony (1156-1198), as well as the funereal arts generated by three queens of France, Marie de Brabant (1254-1322), Jeanne d’Évreux (1310-1371), and Blanche de Navarre (1330-1398). In short, the various items associated with the women I explore arguably functioned as mnemonic devices to provide the necessary “backgrounds” to train and strengthen cultural memory, and consequently drew attention to those associated with, and responsible for their continued diffusion.
In my dissertation I argue that notwithstanding the uniqueness of each of these women’s cultural contributions, they were not exceptions and a survey of their endeavors over time and throughout diverse regions demonstrates that royal women in the Middle Ages systematically partook in acts of commemorative patronage at precise stages in their lives. Despite the assorted shapes their efforts embodied, ranging from manuscripts to stained glass windows, from funerary plaques, paintings, jewels and linens to monuments, mausoleums and endowments of institutions, including a variety of other forms, these women were notably unified in that their greatest output tellingly occurred during precarious points in their lives that threatened their positions, such as the potential political turmoil associated with the deaths of husbands or children. At these times their participation in acts of patronage solidified their places at court, in society, and within cultural memory while doubling as assertions of their political power and lineage. Further, such acts of patronage that these women practiced throughout their lives also led them to use these same tactics in anticipation of their own deaths. This is evinced through their preoccupation with funerary arts through which they created means for those who would survive them to use their contributions for future ends in these women’s last attempts at remaining timelessly relevant. Thus, testaments, manuscript books, monuments, and memorials were not only a declaration or signs of one’s possessions, but also sites and documents that continued the politicking of the deceased.
